coming up on our t.v. in the nation's capital efforts are being made to make changes to expanding u.s. surveillance and protect your online privacy a new oversight board met today to discuss possible changes to the patriot act as well as to fires up but does this board actually have the power to change n.s.a. policy details on that ahead. and a german news magazine has published a manifesto written by n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden the former contractor is pleading for clemency from the u.s. government but white house officials have scoffed at the request more on that coming up and in iran thousands gathered outside the former u.s. embassy the anti-american protests marks the anniversary of the one nine hundred seventy nine seizure of that former embassy in tehran more on the troubled path between the two nations later in the show.

it's monday november fourth five pm in washington d.c. i'm lynn neary david and you're watching r.t.e. . we begin today with a special hearing held by the privacy and civil liberties oversight board or the p c l o b the public hearing took place today in washington d.c. and was meant to take into consideration the recommended changes to both the patriot act and to five also known as the foreign intelligence surveillance act at the hearing one proponent of the current legislation a former justice department intelligence official commended the pfizer court calling it a national treasure take a listen in many ways i would say and i was standing much of what has been written in the press the french record is a national treasure it has done its job. and exemplary fashion during wartime but along with the support came some vocal resistance to current n.s.a.

policies specifically from those who are representing large tech companies. my client work has given me a unique view into the position of providers and service providers who receive demands under fire and it's helped me see two aspects of the process which i believe are inconsistent with the core principles of our legal system first the overbroad cloak of secrecy that applies to everything pfizer related and the lack of a true adversarial process now keep in mind that this is an oversight board that was established back in two thousand and seven to ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of americans were appropriately considered and the implementation of all laws and policies related to terrorism but even though it was a stablish back in two thousand and seven it wasn't until two thousand and twelve that individuals were actually nominated to sit on the board meaning this is a fairly new oversight committee i was going to earlier by he mancini the founder of leading privacy advisor advisory firm s s p blue to talk about the role this

board is likely to play going forward i first asked him what parts of the surveillance legislation were really up for review but i have to tell you it is even though they're supposed to target certain pieces of legislation and look at everything they are actually doing that they are looking for what it appears at everything i don't think there's anything on the table that's not up for grabs and upper review but that said there were a couple of things that came out one is whether or not the phone record capability tapping of phone records and collection of phone records should be completely done away would that was one extreme or should there be changes on it another was whether there should be a special advocate assigned specifically to sit inside the pfizer court the secret court to raise the civil liberty questions in the privacy questions and those are two extremely significant things that are being discussed right now yeah and the hearing is actually not done it should be done in just a little bit so hopefully we'll be hearing some result out of that but this board

was actually set up in two thousand and seven it took. five years however to get people actually seated on the board what's your sense as to why it took so long but i think there's a couple of things one is that number one it was passed and signed into law in two thousand and seven and then there was a change in presidency and i think that has a big impact on how things move there how quickly they move and second and probably more important than anything else including what will happen with this board going forward is the fact that right now in congress nothing is really happening when it comes to legislation and action moving forward because of the battles that go on between the as they say inside the beltway between the days in the i.r.s. but really for your viewers the democrats and the republicans sure and i think that's going to delay every step forward and every step forward they'll be a few steps back and go that pulling will go back and forth and who are the people sitting on the do they follow along democratic and republican party lines. i think

anything was saying inside the beltway anything inside about where there is no such thing as not being along political party lines but if you do look at the resumes which i did look at it is truly the who's who of america when it comes to privacy and justice so there is there seems to be at least on the surface of it a balance between the two sides but i will tell you there is an extreme leftist bent that comes out strikingly and also the people who submitted information and requests for what areas should be reviewed come very strongly from the civil libertarian side of you or the privacy and pro privacy side of you as opposed to the pro law enforcement action and counterintelligence action side of you and saying and this is considered to be an independent agency but what kind of authority does it actually have can you do more than just for example offer

criticism of the n.s.a. i think the easiest way to put it is it has the authority to ask and that's where in many ways and then based on the questions that come out to make recommendations it has no in forstmann power currently it has no subpoena power but it does have the ability to ask questions and in many ways it's almost like a government sanctioned organization that is its own whistleblower if it does find something when it's asking the question and e-mail this board like you mentioned does not have subpoena authority that means it cannot force an agency to produce documents or answer questions on its own instead it would have to ask your tourney general to issue a subpoena on its behalf isn't that a challenge to its ability to really act as an independent body. well sometimes you can conduct a lot of business and ask a lot of questions without ever asking for a subpoena to be issued does it have your independence i don't know if it really

needs to and the answer is yes it doesn't have pure independence but does it really need to questions and if it's not getting the right answers or the answers that things are open and honest and truthful and disclosing enough information it can raise those questions further and then raise them not only privately but more important than anything else in the times that we're in right now is to raise it publicly without worrying about the fact that it leaks something or it's going to get punished or it has to go hide out in russia like somebody else is doing sure and as i understand it senator pat leahy wants to give the board subpoena power to investigate issues about privacy and national security this would be through the legislation he's sponsoring with jim sensenbrenner what's the likelihood we'll see this happening considering the increasing scrutiny of n.s.a. policies i think there's no question that legislation is going to get attention but if you look at it one of the big things about it is i think there's sixteen

senators who have cosigned that all of them are democrats and there are sixty in the house and i think what you're going to see is not bipartisan legislation moving forward to going to see a very bipartisan or just pro democrat and again it's going to run into all those roadblocks that we've seen with every house everything else that's going on there on the hill right now which is the dems fighting the r.'s and it's going to continue and i think ultimately it will raise awareness but then end up dying out sure appreciate you coming and breaking that down for us mancini founder of s.s.p. bloom thanks thanks. and the german news magazine der spiegel has published an open letter it says was written by former government contractor edward snowden in the articles known and says that calls for change and surveillance programs justify his decision to leak classified information the article of course follows snowden's requests for clemency to the u.s. government for his actions however the obama administration has made it clear that

it has no intention of showing any leniency and snowden's case our teeth peter all over than germany and brings us more. the spy can't be allowed to dictate our politics that's according to whistleblower edward snowden writing in the major german news weekly beagle he's put forward what he called his manifesto for truth and which he condemns the security agencies around the world that have set out to smear not only him but also those journalists that have published his articles in various publications around the world he also saying that we need to stop this kind of spying culture that is taken over it's all part of a major. set of articles about edward snowden in this in the german paper it comes on the back of their support for edward snowden here in germany and in a massive increase we've seen a group of over fifty senior public figures calling for him actually to be to be

granted asylum here in germany now and the article it does say that something that perhaps the current german government wouldn't support because suggesting that some of the skeletons in their own closet could come out if there was any big investigation into just exactly what had gone on in terms of the n.s.a. spying program however among those fifty that say it's not and should should come to should be allowed to come to germany is one that says one senior former german politician saying edward snowden has done a great service to the western world and now it's up to us to help him so huge support for snowden and he's laying out his ideas right here in the german press. that was our tease peter oliver reporting from germany. and communities across the nation are gearing up for special elections tomorrow which is november fifth residents in fifteen different cities will be headed to the polls and two states

will hold governor races those states are new jersey and virginia now the virginia election in particular is capturing national attention with some calling it the marquis twenty thirteen contest so far the state's campaigning efforts have broken fundraising records and many say it has laid the groundwork for what next here is congressional races will look like the top candidates are democratic insider a tea party backed republican and one on likely candidate a libertarian named robert sarvis who shaken up the race and put the outcome in question artie's making lopez has more. it's crunch time in virginia up for grabs governorship and one of the country's most contentious swing states. both republican ken cuccinelli and democrat terry mcauliffe have called in the big guns hoping political star power can clinch them the election it's a very interestingly lection here as well as we really have two of the most subpar

candidates from most people i speak with and you know most of the reports you get all the rest democrat terry mcauliffe is facing off against virginia attorney general ken cuccinelli governor of virginia calls in some presidential firepower and what's been the biggest difference here the government shutdown dominica the shutdown has hurt the republican party's brand the state of virginia but when voters head to the polls on tuesday they will have not two but three choices for governor i'm rob sarvis i'm running for governor for love and would love to ever support and she said meet the dark force of the governor's race a libertarian candidate who takes political stumping back to its traditional roots loved every vote on tuesday. in november it was very. nice to meet you and i speak to you i hope. as if it is a good thing and like. unlike his other two well established competitors robert sarvis doesn't have the name recognition or the funds in order to be able to buy vast amounts of air time in order to get his message out there instead he comes to

places like the dulles town center where he shakes hands and gets to know voters one by one and that is how he plans to win the virginia governor's race there's a palpable sense that the republican and democratic parties are no longer governing the public interest he's already put more than thirteen thousand miles on his van during this campaign season this weekend's final push and the thirty seven year old his family and his volunteer staff renting an r.v. and driving to every end of virginia in one last push to win over voters if you want a virginia that's open minded and open for business you have someone to vote for if you want to get cronyism in corporatism out of government you have somebody vote for if you want someone who is answering questions honestly and substantively and he's running a positive campaign and you want to end politics as usual. robert sarvis but relaying that message hasn't been easy service has raised a fraction of what his two competitors have made much of the money pouring into

cuccinelli and mcauliffe campaigns have been focused on attack ads something sarvis refuses to do despite his limited funds service is setting himself up to be the most successful third party candidate in virginia in twenty years service has pulled at a steady ten percent throughout his campaign because of this republicans in the state have warned that he could spoil the election for can generally by stealing vote if i'm spoiling the the results for the republicans and democrats that can only be a good thing they've they've essentially spoiled the system the political system they've closed off the political market and they've allowed cronyism to infect our government even if he doesn't win virginia selection he could make history and it all. it comes down to one line in virginia election laws it says that if service garners ten percent of the total vote the libertarian party will be allowed on the ballot without petitions and the candidate will be allowed to participate in

debates until two thousand and sixteen there's a lot of people that will show up as a protest or would just you know throw their vote away or whatever else but to actually physically cast the lever for service and him to reach that threshold that would be monumental and i think then the virginia race could be a bellwether for everything i spoke about in two thousand and sixteen actually maybe happening earlier potentially paving the way for another libertarian candidate to win in the future in sterling virginia meghan lopez r t. and now to miami beach florida where a similarly contested election is taking root this time however it's for the mayor of the city the fringe candidate looking up and this year's traditional runners is steve burke a thirty two year old yale university grad and former comedian and his campaign burke has been trying to appeal to younger disenfranchised voters who he says may be willing to take a chance on him when the polls open tomorrow artie's perry and boring is in miami

and brings us more. oh idealism go viral we just read steve bird a thirty two year old miami beach mayoral candidate is looking to reform his city is a miami beach happens to be one of the most corrupt cities in america this tropical paradise has been plagued with corruption and police misconduct scandals that have gained national attention steve is running on a platform of transparency to bring baseball responsibility to city hall to put an end to the on foresman brutality he plans to emblem an independent police review and disciplinary board he also wants to decriminalize marijuana which would save the city at three million dollars a year the miami beach mayor election is nonpartizan however steve has created a political party of his own i'm trying to come up with a new party it's called the after party and it's a party specifically designed for young and disenfranchised voters and if we can actually get elected we can make some serious change his politics are offbeat but his means of communicating them are spoken in tempo he is most recognized for his

rap videos one of which he advocates for ending the war on drugs. you know about the science of marijuana you know about people suffering from how much they need it they need you to help them with their condition if you believe me then just as a physician's think your granddad will be after suffering from a back injury during his professional tennis career he turned to medicinal marijuana as a natural alternative to source and drugs for treatment i don't like it politics is about to challenge anyone to a game of tennis for their vote hoping your vote if not with what was going to court one more three out of five points but i'm a jew and if we can't reach voters their wrap recreational reefer he hangs out with his wing out on the nude beach to his biggest opponent is philip levine a multimillionaire businessman who's endorsed by former u.s. president bill clinton steve says he's in the pocket of corporate dogs so levine has spent at least one point two million dollars of his own money on his campaign

for seems that only pays ten thousand dollars he has outspent. one hundred to one but they're nearly tied in the polls i spoke to some residents and asked them who they think is the best candidate to clean up the city for of course steve burke if he was my son i'd say oh you're adorable you're headed toward the comedy circuit he has absolutely no interest in being mayor a lot of people think like my vote doesn't even matter anyways and so they don't vote what you're saying who should vote for really they're all corrupt she says no you're going around she says they're all corrupt the young people are in fact she waited with him over this demographic is so disenfranchised by the political system that very few vo in miami beach elections birth even has trouble getting his best friends to vote for him are you going to hear bowing to the rock. i'm going to check on wednesday and review board a community board i'm going to kick you in the nose levine has painted burk as a comedian who just wants to be famous over burke is no stranger to business he's

proposed building a skyline cable car called the sky link as a solution to the city's traffic problems this project has even caught the attention of urgency you know it sir richard branson who's interested in sponsoring it and of course steve has a song for this too long that you're going to do you get to play you up in the sky i ain't no place to treat you mind me forty eight the miami beach mayor election is about challenging the status quo steve burke is one of the most alternative candidates we've seen but he lacks some of the resources as his opponents name each ready for this change election day is november fifth i mean beach florida kerry and boring r.t. . and still ahead here on our team in iran thousands of protesters gathered outside a former u.s. embassy in tehran the anti-american rally occurs on the anniversary of the nine hundred seventy nine islamic revolution and the scene on the former u.s.

embassy more on a history of troubled relations after the break. we're not psyched to an arctic camp. where patients are forced that. their strike never turned world's attention to the places that some jobs gulag of arts minds.

and now we turn to iran where tens of thousands of demonstrators packed the streets today outside the former u.s. embassy in tehran. now these protests take place every year outside the compound marking the anniversary of the nine hundred seventy nine islamic revolution and takeover of the u.s. embassy however today's protest was bigger than years past in fact it was so large as such as the biggest anti-american rally in the capital in years which many say signals the opposition to president rouhani as historic outreach to washington ties between the two countries have been strained since the iranian embassy siege which

began a hostage crisis with fifty two people held for four hundred and forty four days r.t.f.m. sax takes a look back on that defining moment. the civilized world there's a hollywood story of the iranian hostage crisis that we all know from a movie called argo that came out last year it tells the story of a cia mission to sneak six american diplomats who had fled the embassy out of iran the movie depicts a hostile iranian government and public whipped into supporting the hostage crisis and determined to do harm to americans that story won an oscar for best picture but there's another story about this hostage crisis that's rarely told one that's perfect for hollywood too if it weren't for the fact that it implicates a major u.s. political party and a former presidential administration in a conspiracy to use american hostages as a bargaining chip to win an election earlier this year an article was published in

the christian science monitor it slammed the movie argo saying that by falsifying misrepresenting and taking critical facts out of context the academy award winning film argo delivers a pro cia message at the cost of the iranian people and history the article then goes on to note that the movie misrepresents the iranian government stand in regard to hostage taking it also completely misrepresents iranians by portraying us as irrational people consumed by aggressive emotion and then the first election post revolution an election that took place during the hostage crisis ninety six percent of votes in that election were given the candidates who are against the hostage taking so then why with all of the support for releasing the hostages and the crisis last so long while here comes the bombshell allegation ayatollah khamenei and ronald reagan had organized a clandestine negotiation later known as the october surprise which prevented the attempts by then u.s.

president jimmy carter to free the hostages before the nine hundred eighty us presidential election took place the fact that they were not released to the results of the election in favor of reagan and sure enough the hostages were really . just the day reagan was sworn in this is a pretty explosive charge and you're probably thinking it came from some crackpot right well no the man who wrote this article who's making this claim is none other than the former president of iran himself a bolus on body solder the very first president of the islamic republic of iran the man who served during the hostage crisis bunny sautter adds two of my advisers were executed by khomeini's regime because they had become aware of the secret relationship between khomeini his son ahmad the islamic republican party in the reagan administration. as part of the deal keeping the hostages longer it's alleged the reagan team promised iran weapons which would be funneled in via israel as well as the un freezing of certain iranian assets in u.s.

banks this wasn't the first time bunny sautter made this claim either in one thousand nine hundred two in fact wrote a letter to a house of representatives task force investigating allegations that the reagan team conspired to keep the hostages longer that letter along with another letter written by the foreign minister of iran that further implicated the reagan team was dismissed by the task force the spy congressional task force is exonerating the reagan team for what would have been high treason allegations of an october surprise have continued to persist a report by the russian government confirmed it sources in the israeli government did too and so too did a former reagan insider barbara hunter and the one hundred eighty the former defense minister of portugal claimed he had documents with proof of the october surprise that he would take to the united nations unfortunately he died shortly thereafter in a plane crash so we can't know for sure what really happened behind the scenes in washington and in iran thirty four years ago but there's pretty good evidence to

suggest something underhanded may have happened which gave way to a truly transformative reagan presidential administration but hey you don't have to take my word for it just take the former president of iran is word for it in washington d.c. same sex are today. we hear day in and day out how politicians argue that there are just not enough jobs out there of course we all want to job to contribute to society and feel a sense of self worth in today's residence. and it takes a look at the shrinking of our eight hour work day and the demise of the american job market.

our politicians and pundits talk about jobs all the time these days the government isn't making enough of them corporations are offering any good ones any more the job market sucks and having a job is the credit we can board and you need to make money to survive and mentally it's important to feel like you're contributing to society so everyone is focusing on the disintegration of the job market new york magazine just read an in-depth article called the new economy is indentured task rabbit task rabbit is a service that pairs of people who have small jobs they need to get done with people who can do them for money so the article is using their name as a catch all to refer to short term no benefit freelance jobs the article takes issue with how we're seeing the demise of the full time eight hour a day corporate job equating part time gigs with indentured servitude.

ok there's no denying that the economy stop it's not being able to provide is awful and i wouldn't wish that on anyone but is the demise of the old model really such a bad thing in the scope of the progress of humanity the old job model we've been working with aid so pretty anymore is that's. so you behind a desk eight hours a day are tending to look busy when you're not working for a corporation whose executives get rich off of your efforts not necessarily even believing in what your company is doing and contributing to society and an article titled your lifestyle has already been designed writer david cain breaks down some of the truly slavish qualities of the forty hour work week and he says it leaves us tired hungry for indulgence willing to pay a lot for convenience and entertainment and most importantly they dissatisfied with their lives so that we continue wanting things we don't have no other words

slaves to corporations both the ones we work for and the ones feeding us the crappy movies and stars and trends designed to help us forget how much we hate our jobs so maybe it's time to look for a new model for our jobs for the future jobs who are working for something we actually believe in instead of the moaning the last of us does to me that big corporations broke with their greed if you ask me that old system is a hell of a lot more like slavery and the future is ours to create tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the rest of it. and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america check out our website r t dot com slash usa follow me on twitter

at a mirror david if you write back here at eight. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle shifting sands and alliances advances and reversals outside military intervention and stalemate these are among some of the descriptions that apply to the middle east since the start of the arab spring what are we experiencing in this region the end of the west neocolonial order that we drawing of the map or merely instability and violence with no end in sight.